A Queensland boutique brewer has today made brewing history with the launch of BIGHEAD — Australia’s first no-carb beer. BIGHEAD is the brainchild of Burleigh Brewing Company, an independent craft brewery based in Burleigh Heads on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Burleigh Brewing’s CEO, Peta Fielding, said BIGHEAD’s arrival would be welcome news for men and women across Australia who are conscious of their carbohydrate intake, but love their beer.

“There are a lot of low-carb beers on the Australian market, but only one no-carb – and that’s BIGHEAD Beer,” said Fielding. “For the past year, our customers have been asking us when we were going to create a low-carb beer and today, we’ve not only delivered, we’ve exceeded everyone’s expectations with a beer that is truly unique. We don’t know why this hasn’t been done before now, but we’re thrilled that the idea and ability has been developed by an independent Queensland company.”

BIGHEAD is a full-flavoured, full-strength lager that is 100% natural, free of additives and preservatives, and has a smooth, clean taste – with zero carbs and only 88 calories per bottle.

BIGHEAD is named after its place of origin – Burleigh Heads – which was originally dubbed ‘burly head’ (meaning ‘big or brawny head’) by surveyor James Warner in 1840. The name also celebrates the fact that this is a big idea, and a big beer, for an independent brewery.

So how has this little company from the coast managed to create something that no-one else in Australia has? Understandably, they’re not wanting to share too much of their secret, but surprisingly, its based more on tradition than modern technology.

“We use a very authentic brewing process to ensure all our premium beers are fresh and pure. And adding the no-carb element to our brewing involved even more attention to times and temperatures – and required plenty of patience,” said Fielding.

The Burleigh Brewing team, led by Masterbrewer and co-founder, Brennan Fielding, has spent the past year researching, developing, testing and refining the no-carb recipe, which has also been tested by an independent lab in accordance with Australia and New Zealand Food Standards to substantiate its no-carb claim.

But for Brennan and Peta Fielding, this process has been largely a labour of love. “As a craft brewery, we’re passionate about making great beers that taste great and make our customers happy,” Peta Fielding said.

“One thing we wouldn’t compromise on when we were creating this no-carb beer is the quality. BIGHEAD is full of flavour, fresh, pure and balanced, with the added bonus of no carbs. Low-carb beers may have been the ‘it’ drink of 2008, but looking towards the new year, we see the launch of BIGHEAD opening up an entirely new beer category. We hope Australia enjoys drinking BIGHEAD as much as we enjoyed creating it.”

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10 Responses to “First “No Carb” Beer?”

Hi
Sounds great as I am a beer drinker but unfortunately it seems to whack on the weight. I live in UKI Northern NSW (Near Murwillumbah) and was wondering if I can get this local or maybe buy it from you at the brewery.
Please let me know
Gary Hughes

[…] Burleigh Brewing, a small independent craft brewer in Queensland, Australia, claims to have created the first no-carb beer. The 88 calorie BIGHEAD Beer is a “full-flavoured, full-strength lager that is 100% natural, free of additives and preservatives, and has a smooth, clean taste.” That’s an impressive claim. Burleigh Brewing’s CEO, Peta Fielding, said BIGHEAD’s arrival would be welcome news for men and women across Australia who are conscious of their carbohydrate intake, but love their beer. […]

[…] The best reason to diet yet: So you don’t have to drink this stuff. A Queensland boutique brewer has today made brewing history with the launch of BIGHEAD — Australia’s first no-carb beer. BIGHEAD is the brainchild of Burleigh Brewing Company, an independent craft brewery based in Burleigh Heads on Queensland’s Gold Coast. __________ […]

The 88 calories are from ethanol! No carb beers are not a big deal. Miller Lite is no carb and has been around for 20 years. Coors Light came soon after. Most beers with less than 100 calories are obtained by dilution with water. It’s hard to imagine that BIGHEAD has much flavor. When will it be available to taste in the US?

In my opinion there is a definite difference in the many low carb beers. Of the ones around 5 and under only Miller Lite seems to have a fair amount of a real characteristic taste and that definitely leans heavy on the corn flavor versus wheat and barley. Still, it delivers a reasonable taste at 3.2 grams whereas Coors Light has less taste at over 5 grams. This leads me to believe the amount of flavor isn’t totally dependent on a beer being heavy in carbs. I mean look at Guiness Draught, it’s strong flavored (love it or leave it), but it’s not quite 5 grams of carbs for 12 oz. All the above said…I’d love to know if this first totally carb-free beer tastes good? Since it’s unlikely a very small brewer would ever export this stuff to the U.S. I’d like to hear some opinions of average beer drinkers who have actually had several.

Hi guys, im from Brisbane and this beer was being promoted at my local Dan Murphys liquor outlet, i tasted a sample in store and liked it and bought a six pack, i have now had 4 lol, i belive it has quite a good taste, nothing to write home about though.